Martin Faulstich

• CUTEC Institute at the Clausthal University of Technology

The increased use of digital information and communications technologies (ICT) is giving rise to fast-growing waste streams that contain important material resources. In contrast to bulk materials and precious metals, the recovery of most critical metals has not yet been commercially established, and they are thus lost within the recycling process....

Although Electromobility provides an appropriate technological solution to the low-carbon-emission goals of “Energiewende”, it poses specific challenges in terms of the increase in the electricity demand and the integration into the grid infrastructure across Germany and eventually the whole Europe. Considering the mentioned strategies, a significa...

Precise electricity consumption forecast plays a vital role in the modern energy planning and has primary importance in energy system modellings and simulations. The design, expansion plans and construction of electricity transmission network and distribution facilities entail an investment of billions of dollars, which makes the electrical load fo...

Global industrial metal markets have experienced a drastic price decline over the past years. In this paper we link the dynamics of raw material markets and commodity price fluctuations to a delayed adjustment of supply. Drawing on the classical cobweb theorem we show how the implementation of this theorem using system dynamics may yield a valuable...

Electronic devices contain important resources, including precious and critical raw materials. For an efficient management of these resources, it is important to know where the devices are located, how long they are used and when and how they are disposed of. In this article, we explore the past and current quantities of electronic devices in the i...

Product lifetime is an essential aspect of dynamic material flow analyses and has been modeled using lifetime distribution functions, mostly average lifetimes. Existing data regarding the lifetime of electronic equipment (EE) are based on diverging definitions of lifetime as well as different temporal and regional scopes. After its active use, EE i...

Due to mounting concerns about the security of raw material supplies, numerous studies dealing with the quantification of supply risks and material criticality at the national level have been carried out in previous years. Regarding these studies, most approaches are indicator based static screening methods analyzing large numbers of raw materials...

Scientific report prepared on behalf of the Lower Saxony Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Protection

Um die globale Erwärmung auf deutlich unter 2°C zu begrenzen, ist eine ambitionierte Klimapolitik notwendig. Gleichzeitig eröffnet eine klimapolitische Vorreiterrolle Deutschlands und der EU auch vielfältige ökonomische Chancen. Wo Konflikte mit industriepolitischen Zielen bestehen, lassen sich diese durch treffgenaue und anreizkompatible Entlastun...

Product lifetimes and disposal pathways are essential aspects of dynamic material flow analyses (MFAs), which have often been used to model stocks and flows of electronic devices and the resources they contain. Existing studies mainly focus on the use and disposal of electronic devices by private consumers. The specific handling of business devices...

In der Diskussion um eine ambitionierte Klimapolitik wird oftmals vorgebracht, diese gefährde die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit der heimischen Industrie. Diese Befürchtungen erweisen sich bei genauer Analyse jedoch als weithin unbegründet. Vielmehr bietet eine klug ausgestaltete Klimapolitik vielfältige Chancen.

Scientific report prepared on behalf of the Lower Saxony Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Protection

The rapid economic development of emerging countries in combination with an accelerating spread of new technologies has led to a strongly increasing demand for industrial metals and minerals regarding both the total material requirement and the diversity of elements used for the production of specific high-tech applications. Several minor metal mar...

The effects of selected yeast extract (YE) compounds on 2,3-butanediol production by Paenibacillus polymyxa DSM 365 were studied. The intention was to substitute complex sources of nutrients by defined compounds thus reducing the high demand of YE as well as lowering the costs of fermentation media. For this purpose the depletion of different inorg...

Vor dem Hintergrund eines stetig steigenden Ressourcenverbrauchs der Menschheit und die damit verbundene Umweltbelastung auf der einen Seite, aber auch die zunehmende Konkurrenz um den Rohstoffzugang auf der anderen Seite, gewinnen ganzheitliche Betrachtungen der im industriellen Produktionsprozess eingesetzten Materialen zunehmend an Bedeutung. Di...

In einem Hochtechnologieland wie Deutschland ist die störungsfreie Versorgung mit Rohstoffen Voraussetzung für die erfolgreiche Produktion und Vermarktung von Spitzentechnologie und damit die Basis für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung der Wirtschaft. Wegen des hohen Anteils des verarbeitenden Gewerbes an der gesamten Wertschöpfung bei gleichzeitig hohe...

Thermal energy storage (TES) devices, especially hot water tanks lose energy through the surface. To keep the energy loss low, TES are insulated with materials like expanded polystyrene or mineral wool. However, the insulation of small and middle-sized TES is not as good as it should be. With Vacuum Insulation Panels (VIPs), it is possible to reduc...

This paper presents a first state of the art review on vacuum insulated thermal tanks. On the one hand this contribution gives a short introduction on the physics of vacuum insulations, used in existing thermal hot water tanks. On the other hand it presents the two common concepts of the Center for Applied Energy Research in Munich (ZAE) and the Un...

Despite notable progress over the last twenty years, the agricultural sector in Germany has not succeeded in realising certain environmental key targets. For example, the target of reducing maximum national nitrogen surplus at + 80 kg N/ha/year is still far from being achieved. Consequently, not only the quality of surface water and ground water is...

Hydrophilic phenolic compounds in olive-mill wastewater (OMWW) evince high potential for use in pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmetic products due to their bioactivities. However, up-to-date, effective and low-cost extraction techniques suitable for large quantities of OMWW are still wanting. This lack turns the by-product OMWW into problemati...

A headspace solid-phase microextraction method with subsequent GC-MS (HS-SPME/GC-MS) was established for the quantitative analysis of volatile lignin derived phenolic monomers in complex aqueous solutions. Extraction was done using a polyacrylate fiber. The optimization of HS-SPME - parameters was performed using a multi component model solution of...

Models of anthropogenic metal cycles quantify where metals are introduced into economies, how they are used, where they are stored and how they are recycled or discarded. Despite the rising amount of publications and research work in the field of Material Flow Analysis (MFA) and Substance Flow Analysis (SFA) in recent years, dynamic modeling approa...

Phosphor ist in seiner Funktion als essenzieller Pflanzennährstoff von strategischer Bedeutung für die Menschheit. Derzeit befinden sich verschiedene Verfahren zur Rückgewinnung aus Reststoffen in der Diskussion. Die Düngewirkung der rückgewonnenen Sekundärphosphate ist uneinheitlich und wird zum Teil den Anforderungen der Landwirtschaft nicht gere...

Die Energiewende bedeutet eine Systemtransformation des gesamten Energiebereichs hin zu erneuerbaren Energien. Der Transformationsprozess ist dabei einerseits von hohen technologischen Herausforderungen begleitet. Andererseits zeigen sich aber auch zunehmend Akzeptanzprobleme in der Bevölkerung, wenn etwa die Strompreise als zu hoch empfunden werde...

Solvo-thermal treatment was used to chemically densify thermal sprayed oxide based coatings. This allows to reduce significantly its porosity whilst it improves the cohesion and hardness. As a consequence, this leads to a better thermal shock and wear resistance. This innovative process has been successfully used to improve the corrosion resistance...

For a commercial breakthrough of ethanol production from lignocelluloses, one main challenge still exists in achieving high ethanol concentrations during fermentation. Using sweet sorghum as a feedstock for ethanol production has the advantage to have both, directly fermentable sugars in the juice as well as sugars from lignocellulose of the plant...

Recently, the attention of economists, politicians and researchers has been focussed not only on the widely discussed subject of exhaustible energy resources. Rather, the scarcity of metallic and mineral raw materials alike has increasingly received attention. On principle, the demand to increase resource and material efficiency may be met at all l...

Plasma-sprayed yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) ceramic coatings have been widely used as wear- and corrosion-resistant coatings in high temperature applications and an aggressive environment due to their high hardness, wear resistance, heat and chemical resistance, and low thermal conductivity. The highly porous structure of plasma-sprayed ceramic...

Olive mill wastewater (OMW) contains a substantial amount of valuable antioxidant phenols that can be recovered for industrial application as food additives and pharmaceuticals. The present study was aimed at extracting different phenolic OMW fractions, and determining their antioxidant potential. Five different OMW fractions were obtained using fr...

Eine ganzheitliche Betrachtung von materiellen Wertschöpfungsketten ermöglicht eine umfassende Analyse signifikanter Stoffströme. Die Untersuchung vor allem rohstoffintensiver und technologiestrategischer Wertschöpfungsketten erscheint in diesem Zusammenhang als prioritär. Die exemplarisch vorgestellte Wertschöpfungskette der Eisen- und Stahlindust...

Der Industriestandort Bayern ist mit seinem hohen Anteil an Hightech-Unternehmen in besonderem Maße von wirtschaftsstrategischen Rohstoffen abhängig. Welche Rohstoffe für die bayerische Wirtschaft von großer Bedeutung sind und welche Abfallströme zur Substitution dieser Rohstoffe herangezogen werden können, soll im vorliegenden Beitrag dargestellt...

The saccharide- and lignin-releasing potential of microwave-assisted alkali pretreatment on wheat straw was examined using a dedicated laboratory microwave reactor with two magnetrons á 500W and magnetic stirring devices. 2–5 wt% NaOH solutions at a high solid loading of 10 wt% biomass and temperature–time settings of 60–140 °C and 10–60 min were t...

Fed-batch fermentations for the production of 2,3-butanediol (BDL) with Paenibacillus polymyxa DSM 365 were investigated in 2-L-fermenters. A suitable micro-aerobic set-up enabled high product selectivity of up to 98% R,R-BDL towards meso-BDL and acetoin. Up to 111gL(-1)R,R-BDL within 54h could be achieved with sufficient supply of complex medium (...

Product development in industry is exposed to intensifying pressure in the context of environmental aspects both from legislative regulations as well as from the market. Governments are steadily increasing the standards and customers around the world are becoming more aware of ambient issues. Furthermore the prices for non-renewable resources are r...

Due to rising prices of fossil energy sources renewable energy sources and biofuels gain in importance. Butanol as fuel or blending component has some advantages compared to ethanol. For example a lower vapour pressure and higher energy density. The production of butanol in a microbial fermentation was first reported by Pasteur in 1861. Wastes from...

The influence of a laccase from Trametes versicolor on the removal of phenolic monomers in liquid hot water pretreated wheat straw supernatants (LHW-S) was examined. Beside the total phenol content derived by Folin-Ciocalteu (FC-) assay, phenolic monomers were measured via headspace-solid phase micro-extraction (HS-SPME)/GC-MS. A notable decrease o...

The consequences of climate change as well as the scarcity of primary fossil energy carriers compel a basic reorientation of the energy supply. In doing so, one of the biggest technical challenges is to reconcile the availability of energy from volatile sources with the need for energy of the consumers and thereby securing an economical and consump...

Olive mill wastewater (OMWW) is an abundant source of polyphenols [1]. Due to their different bioactivities, OMWW would be a worthwhile source of highly valuable compounds for pharmaceutical and food industry. However, a simple and cost-effective extraction technique has still to be found. The present study aimed to evaluate foam separation for the...

In order to increase reliability and lifetime of heat exchangers in waste-to-energy plants corrosion resistant thermally sprayed coatings are applied in a higher extent. From the selection of a plant specific spray material and process via laboratory and field experiments up to a successful coating a high amount of time and money is necessary. In p...

Since the potentially available agricultural land for energy crop cultivation is limited, the area should be used in a sustainable and efficient way. In this project, the “basket of benefit” methodology, a special life-cycle assessment approach, is used to calculate emissions of different bioenergy pathways, related to 1 ha of agricultural land. Th...

Anaerobic digestion of lignocellulosic fractions of biogenic resources in biogas plants performs slowly and incompletely leaving fibrous residues. Thus, this work focused on a combined mechanical and enzymatic pretreatment of maize and grass silage to achieve a partial hydrolysis of the substrates and a higher biogas yield. To get an intensive disi...

Neben den allseits diskutierten endlichen Energierohstoffen rücken derzeit die ebenso knappen metallischen und mineralischen Rohstoffe verstärkt in den Fokus von Wirtschaft, Politik und Forschung. Die geforderte Steigerung der Rohstoff- und Materialeffizienz kann prinzipiell auf allen Ebenen der Wertschöpfungskette erfolgen. Eine systematische Anal...

Self metathesis of oleochemicals offers a variety of bifunctional compounds, that can be used as monomer for polymer production. Many precursors are in huge scales available, like oleic acid ester (biodiesel), oleyl alcohol (tensides), oleyl amines (tensides, lubricants). We show several ways to produce and separate and purify C18-α,ω-bifunctional...

Hintergrund Der Klimaschutz ist in den letzen Jahren immer stärker zu einem zentralen Thema der Umweltpolitik geworden. Aktuelle politische Zielsetzungen fordern deswegen einen Anteil von erneuerbaren Energien am Primärenergieverbrauch von 20 % bis 2020. Energie aus Biomasse hat derzeit den größten Anteil bei den erneuerbaren Energien, die zur Redu...

Landfill operators are increasingly installing a decentralized small incineration plants that uses incineration heat for energy-intensive sewage sludge drying. The implementation of the EU Landfill Directive (LD) has prohibited landfilling of untreated waste and raw sewage sludge. The Directive has compelled landfill operators to adopt secure techn...

Waste materials to be utilized, which are not specially in need of monitoring, and waste materials from the commercial and production areas which do not need monitoring are neither subject to delivery nor subject to a government material flow control. For the construction and metal industry an approach for the identification of these material flow...

Nicht besonders überwachungsbedürftige Abfälle zur Verwertung und nicht überwachungsbedürftige Abfälle aus dem gewerblichen und Produktionsbereich sind weder andienungspflichtig, noch unterliegen sie einer staatlichen Stoffstromkontrolle. Für die Bau- und Metallbranche wurde ein Ansatz für die Ermittlung dieser Stoffstromdaten und deren Verknüpfung...

Changes in German and European legislation shifted processing of polymer-rich shredding residues (SR) from landfill to thermal treatment. However, when waste of electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) is the source of SR, thermal treatment is complicated by halogens as well as the presence of polybrominated dioxins and furans (PBDD/F) and brominat...

Die Möglichkeiten zur Bereitstellung von Energie aus Biomasse sind vielfältig. Als prinzipielle Wege existieren physikalisch-chemische Verfahren, wie Pressung und Extraktion, biochemi-sche Umwandlungsverfahren, z.B. zu Ethanol oder Biogas, und die thermochemischen Verfahren Pyrolyse, Vergasung und Verbrennung. Abbildung 1 zeigt vereinfacht die mögl...

New research approaches concentrate on lignocellulose biomass (LCB) as alternative raw material. Lignocellulose forms the skeletal structure for all green land plants. It is available in a large variety and quantity. Up to 70% of the dry mass of lignocellulose consists of polysaccharides bound in cellulose and hemicellulose of use for the fermentat...

Among different types of consumer waste in Germany, plastic waste, rubber waste, and end-of-life cars are closely intertwined. Processing techniques applied to these types of consumer waste are identical in many cases. This chapter outlines these similarities and discusses each type of consumer waste. The regulations for plastic waste recycling onl...

Summary Buildings require both for construction and, due to their comparatively long life cycle for maintenance, significant raw material and energy resources. So far available knowledge about resource consumption during an entire life cycle of a building is still quite rare, because various criteria affect each other and/or overlay mutually. In th...

The "BIO-Sulfex" biofilter of ATZ-EVUS removes hydrogen sulfide from biogas in a biological way. Hydrogen sulfide causes massive problems during power generation from biogas in a power plant, e.g. corrosion of engines and heat exchangers, and thus causes frequent and therefore expensive engine oil changes. The BIO-Sulfex module is placed between th...

The current monitoring of the status of the environment and natural resources is a substantial basis for the implementation of a sustainable development as a model of the environmental policy in the terms of Agenda 21. For the 90s, in particular by the mandate of Rio 1992, both the international institutions (international level), e.g. the OECD, th...

The current monitoring of the status of the environment and natural resources is a substantial basis for the implementation of a sustainable development as a model of the environmental policy in the terms of Agenda 21. For the 90s, in particular by the mandate of Rio 1992, both the international institutions (international level), e.g. the OECD, th...

Bavaria is well stocked in mineral raw materials such as gravel, sand, natural stones, loam and clay. As such, exploitation and processing of raw materials play an important economical role in Bavaria. At the same time, exploitation of raw materials can have a negative environmental impact resulting from resource and land consumption and from refil...

The costs of all significant sewage sludge disposal methods were determined by literature studies and interviews in disposal companies. The great price differences registered during the investigation show that the prices must be considered with care. Available incineration and deposition capacities in conjunction with changes in the legal situation...

Approximately 60 percent of the weight of all wastes in Germany originates from the building area. For construction activities usually non-renewable resources are used. Nevertheless so far only incomplete knowledge about consumption of resources and energy over the entire life cycle of a building, about effects on consumption of fossil raw material...